RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Jim Woolridge was looking for a scorer and he was casting a wide net.

The University of California-Riverside head coach had a top priority on the recruiting trail, and that was to put some punch into a lineup that finished at the bottom of the Big West Conference in scoring.

"We really set out across the country," said Woolridge.

But eventually the Oklahoma City native found what he was looking for in a familiar enough place – Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, a junior college in Miami, Okla.

That rural Oklahoma town was the second stop on the journey that brought Phil Martin here to play Division I basketball in Southern California, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, fulfilling the potential that seemed obvious from the time Curtis coach Tim Gannon brought him up to a senior-laden Warrior varsity as a sophomore at the start of the 2004-05 season.

It seemed just as obvious to Martin, a versatile scorer who could slash and shoot, with the size and athleticism to do damage in the paint as well. He averaged 18.2 points as a senior, but as that 2006-07 season came to a close, his basketball future was uncertain. A too-casual approach to the classroom ruined his chances of playing Division I basketball directly out of high school.

"It wasn't easy to deal with, but I wasn't going to allow myself to settle for less," said Martin. "It definitely was a disappointment on my part. It wasn't anybody's choices I was making but mine."

DIFFERENT ROUTE

So he set out the chase his goals the hard way, a course that offered no sure ending. He went to showcase workouts to audition for junior college coaches and spent that first year after high school at Edison Prep in New Jersey.

After that, with the help of

Donnie McCoombs, a Curtis assistant coach during Martin's junior and senior seasons, he found his way to Northeastern Oklahoma to play for coach Dustin Grover.

At A&M, he experienced the kind of culture shock that sends plenty of kids sprinting back to the airport for the next flight home. Martin took advantage of the isolation and made it work for him during his two years there.

"A totally different life experience," said Martin. "In the middle of nowhere. Just farmland, country, cows. A non-city environment. It was an unusual adjustment. It wasn't bad because the gym was right there, so there was nothing I could do except be in the gym and get better. I worked hard every day. Coach Grover used to get mad at me for being in the gym so much sometimes."

Midway through Martin's sophomore season, he emerged on Woolridge's radar, around the time he put up back-to-back 35-point games in the Jayhawk Shootout in Kansas in early January.

SCORER'S ROLE

Others showed interest – Jacksonville State, Coastal Carolina, Bradley – but Riverside and veteran coach Woolridge, who spent six seasons as head coach at Kansas State and two years in the NBA as an assistant with the Chicago Bulls, won out. Martin arrived in California over the summer to start taking classes and prepare to step into a big role as the scoring threat Woolridge wanted.

"That's what I do," said Martin. "I'm a scorer. I never played any other position. I was kind of happy that's what he was looking for and I was able to fill that void."

Eleven games into the season Martin is Riverside's leading scorer, averaging 13.9 points per game and doing it efficiently. He's making 54 percent of his field goal attempts and shooting 36 percent from 3-point range and 87 percent from the line.

A torrid stretch early in the year saw Martin go for a career-high 29 points against SMU, followed by 27 against San Jose State and 22 against UT-San Antonio.

"We really need him to be that kind of player, maybe not quite to that extent, but every night be a threat for us and somebody that can get baskets on his own," said Woolridge, whose squad is 4-7 with the Big West opener coming up Tuesday at Cal-Irvine. "Most good teams, that's kind of where it ends up going. Defenses are pretty sophisticated and team defense could take plays away, sets away, tendencies away. But they can't take good players away. And we're hoping he can become that player for us as we move through the season."

Martin's scoring has slowed the last few games – he had nine points in an 89-80 loss to CSU-Bakersfield on Wednesday night – but mostly he's concerned with improving the rest of his game, particularly his off-the-ball defense. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, he's filled out noticeably since his days at Curtis, but the physicality of the Division I game is a challenge as well.

LEARNING CURVE

"We teach the whole game too, and that's been his biggest learning curve," Woolridge explained. "The fact that we need him to defend, we need him to understand concepts and not just scoring the ball. You can't be one-dimensional here. It's an ebb and flow. Some good, some bad. We feel good that eventually he's going to find himself in a better place."

He's well on the way, and with it Martin is grabbing an opportunity to set an example for his younger brothers. He's the oldest of six, including Kareem, a junior on the McKee/S.I. Tech varsity and Hassan, a sophomore on the Curtis JV. Ensuring they avoid some of his mistakes and give themselves an easier path is something that drives him.

"It's a learning process and a growing process," said Martin. "I'm still going through a little bit of growing pains. I'm starting to get a better understanding as much as I can day by day.

"This is a total different level from high school, of course. Junior college prepared me. Now I finally made it here after four years. It's been a long route but I'm happy I finally made it here. I'm trying to take advantage of it best as I can."